


In From the Cold

by Alex_Write



Series: Sentinel Clint & Guide Phil [1]
Category: Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, M/M, Mild Smut, Not Beta Read, Pre-Avengers (2012), Sentinel!Clint, Sentinel/Guide, Sentinel/Guide Bonding, guide!Phil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-20
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2019-01-20 08:44:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12429168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_Write/pseuds/Alex_Write
Summary: Clint came online as a Partial Sentinel when he was only a child, but with is history never told anyone. When SHIELD starts to track him and the jobs he takes as the mercenary known as Hawkeye, he expects that his time is up and it's all he can do to try and stay ahead of whatever they have planned for him. However, things never goes as planned and soon he's finding himself face to face with an Agent of SHIELD. Only, the man is a Guide, and all of Clint's senses are screaming that Guide belongs to him.This is based before Clint becomes a part of SHIELD, when Phil is tracking him down to try and bring him in as a Specialist. When they meet, Phil finds that he has another reason to bring Clint in.





	In From the Cold

Clint knew that he was a Sentinel the moment he woke up from the car accident and found out that his parents had been killed. He also knew immediately to hide it. It didn't matter much anyway, not at first; he was only a Partial. He didn't have all five senses online, just the sight and from what he remembered learning in school if all five didn't come online at once then it was unlikely he'd ever gain the ones that he was missing. Increased eye sight didn't help him any really, it didn't make him special. A lot of people had good sight.

When his brother talked him into running away from the children's home to join the traveling circus, Clint learned that maybe the increased eye sight wasn't as useless as he thought it was. He managed to keep them from being caught when they made their escape. Once they made it to the circus, he was surprised that the troupe quickly welcomed them in. He didn't tell them that he was a Partial, but he quickly figured out that it helped anyway.

The Swordsman, Jacques, and Trickshot quickly figured out that he was pretty good when it came to throwing knives and using the bow. He didn't tell them that he was a Partial, but he had a feeling that they had a suspicion. They also taught him other things, along with his brother. How to fight with his hands, how to use knives for more than hitting a target board, and how to move quietly among other things like the other acts in the circus. Naively he thought that they were just looking out for them, trying to make sure that they would always have a place in the circus, always have a home where they belonged.

It wasn't until he caught Jacques counting stolen money and when Trickshot tried to talk him into going on a raid with them that he'd really understood what was happening. His brother hadn't cared. They were offering them a way to get money, real money even if it wasn't necessarily _good_. When Clint declined, his own moral code that he'd worked on and committed to over the years not allowing him to join, they left him for dead. 

Watching his last remaining blood family member turn his back on him and watching his adopted family do the same, Clint came to the conclusion that he'd been right to try and keep his status as a Partial Sentinel secret from them. If he couldn't even trust them with his life, then how could he have trusted them not to turn him into the Center.

He wasn't even really sure why he didn't want to go to the Center, not anymore. At first it had been because he didn't want to be taken away from Barney. Perhaps, after joining the circus, it had been the same thing. When he was left to bleed out, he just didn't want to trust anyone anymore.

Somehow he manged to survive, patching himself up and picking up the pieces of his life. He couldn't go back to the circus, and he though he initially tried to join another one he was too tense to manage. He was on such high alert when surrounded by other people that, even with only one heightened sense, he was almost always on the verge of zoning. So instead he went solo as a mercenary. He picked his own work, focusing not on the money but more on the job itself. He turned down anything that he wasn't morally comfortable with, and his kill rating was at 100% for the ones that he did take on. Watching other Sentinels from afar, he taught himself self-grounding techniques since he couldn't rely on anyone inadvertently keeping him from zoning like Barney and Trickshot had often done.

All in all, he thought that he'd made a semi-okay life for himself. It wasn't necessarily good, he killed bad people for a living, but it wasn't bad either – after all he only killed  _bad_ people. He was also managing to stay under the radar of the Sentinels  & Guides Center. 

It was when he was twenty-five that he first heard wind of someone, or some people, following him. They never got close enough for him to catch them in the act, but he heard the whispers after the fact, once he'd left a job finished and done. His contacts to the darker side of the mercenary world (which was saying something since being a mercenary was pretty seedy to begin with) had eventually given him a name of a government agency cloaked in shadows.

SHIELD, from his research, was interested in him. There was conflicting rumors as to if they wanted to hire him on, or if they were looking to take him out. Clint wasn't sure anymore as to which one he'd prefer. 

Obviously he didn't want to work for them. He was sure that if they found out about him being a Partial that they'd send him to the Center immediately, and there was always those people who worked in the government who liked to work with Sentinels but only if they were fully online and bonded. Partial bonds were useless, at least in most people's eyes. However, he wasn't sure that he wanted to be dead either.

Figuring the middle ground was the best idea, Clint did his best to stay ahead of them. He became even more selective about what jobs he took and he moved quicker when leaving the nest he set up or the scene of whatever crime he was committing. In the end, he wasn't too surprised when things went sideways and upside down. He wasn't expecting what the end result was, though.

  
Moving as quickly as possible, Clint collapsed the bow and hurried it away into the bag before slinging it over his shoulder and heading down the stairs of the perch he'd taken. Before he could make it out of the building he was drawn to a stop by the sight of a man slightly older than himself with dark thinning hair and a suit. None of the self-grounding techniques helped keep him from zoning, his eye sight focusing on him and refusing to move. Then suddenly there was an intoxicating smell. It was the smell of gun oil, paper, and strangely donuts. He could also swear that he could hear what sounded like someone's heartbeat belonging to someone other than him.

Before he could as much as blink, the man he'd zoned in on was across the room and a warm hand was wrapped around the back of his neck, drawing his senses back in even as he found himself swaying forward. An overwhelming urge to bury his nose in the unknown man's neck overcame him, but he managed to push it away.

“Sentinel, we were unaware of your status.” The man's voice was smooth and unassuming, if mildly amused and stunned, making Clint blink a few times as he struggled to get his thoughts pulled back together.

Shaking his head slightly, Clint briefly thought that he should be trying to pull away from the stranger's touch, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead he tilted his head back slightly, pushing more firmly into the touch. “Not...I'm only Partial. Don't wanna go to the Center. You're mine? My Guide?”

He wasn't sure where the last part came from, calling the stranger his Guide. He was a Partial, he didn't figure that he'd ever have a Guide. Some did find their Guides, normally low level Guides who had issues bonding with Sentinels who were fully online. The man in front of him was no low level Guide though, the shields that Clint could somehow feel gave off a sense of strength and competence. There was no way that such a strong Guide would be bonded to a Partial.

The man had a flash of amusement go through his eyes, his thumb running over Clint's neck almost mindlessly. “I'm Agent Philip Coulson, and you are no Partial. We should move this to a more private location. I have a hotel room booked, we can go there or we can go somewhere more public. It is your choice, Sentinel.”

Blinking, Clint tried to force himself to focus and think clearly. The man that part of him was screaming was his Guide was apparently a government agent, which meant that he was probably SHIELD. Phil wished to move them to a private location. Logically, Clint knew that could mean something negative. Going to a secondary location could mean being killed, it was a tactic that he'd used himself in the past. Get a target alone and then there was no one who could help them or get in the way, no witnesses to their death. Another part of him was screaming at him that there was no way that his Guide would ever hurt him. If he went with Phil then he could keep his Guide safe, could bond with him.

Deciding to trust his instincts this once, especially since he was now curious as to why this Guide would say that he wasn't a Partial, Clint finally pulled away and nodded slightly. He wasn't about to go into someone else's territory, though.

“I have a room not far. We can talk there.”

He waited a moment before Phil nodded sharply, the man moving a step closer before motioning for Clint to lead on. Obviously Clint wasn't the only one who felt the need to be close, even if he had managed to break away from the contact the Guide had initiated before.

Deciding that he didn't mind the close proximety, even if it did make keeping his hands to himself harder, Clint moved swiftly out of the building and glanced around quickly. This was more than just getting into private to talk, he realized now. He wanted to make sure that his Guide was safe, that there was no one out there who were about to try and separate them. His senses, now that he was no longer fully focusing on Phil, were running almost wildly. His hearing was straining to hear everything and anything possible while his sense of smell was trying to pick out anything that didn't belong even though before he couldn't have smelled anything close to this detail. It at least served the purpose of letting him know that while Phil was wearing a radio transmitter, the line was quiet as if it had been cut.

He wondered when the line had been cut and if Phil had been the one to cut the communication with his employer or if the team who was suppose to be watching the man's back had cut it. The thought that someone would leave the agent swinging in the wind made Clint feel irrationally angry seeing as he'd only just met the man.

Moving quickly, Clint made his way through the streets, dodging people who got too close and carefully making sure that Phil was with him the entire way. He knew that Phil probably thought that he had a hotel room, much like what Phil had said to have had. If so, then the man was probably surprised to see Clint letting them into a small apartment.

Clint normally didn't take jobs so close to where he lived, but he'd been planning on relocating after this job. The only reason that he'd taken the apartment was because it was Sentinel friendly, but due to the location didn't actually have a lot of active Sentinels in the area who might recognize him as a Partial. Even though he only had one sense online – he supposed now he had at least three online, perhaps four and maybe even five – he'd always felt better in Sentinel safe locations. There wasn't much anyone could do to help keep his vision from going haywire, but the bedroom was windowless which at least decreased the input.

If Phil was surprised to have been taken to an apartment, he didn't show it. Instead he simply moved to the ratty old couch that took up one wall of the small living room and carefully sat down, his attention fully on Clint.

Putting his bow case up against the wall, Clint followed Phil's lead and took a seat on the couch as close as he dared. They weren't quite touching, but he knew that if either of them shifted even slightly that could easily change. Being so close to the Guide was calming in a way that he'd never experienced before. Now that they were there, he didn't know what to say or do. One of the downsides of having never gone to the Center for formal training was that he didn't have information to draw on. He knew what he'd seen bonded pairs do, but he wasn't actually bonded to Phil no matter how his senses screamed at him to.

Thankfully Phil seemed to know what to do and didn't mind taking charge.

“I'm going to assume from your earlier comment about being a Partial that until now you only had one, maybe two senses online. I can assure you that you have at least four online. Taste and smell are often linked closely together, so if you have one online you will most likely have the other one online as well. I know that your visual sense is online, as well as your hearing. I don't know about touch. I'm also going to guess that you have no training in this since you requested not to go the Center.”

Clint nodded slightly at that, fighting his body's insistence that he relax as his Guide talked to him. He needed to be ready for anything. “I've had heightened sight for a while. I don't know how long, though. Since my parents died at least. What's going on, exactly? Why have I suddenly come online and what do you and SHIELD want from me? Are you going to force me to go to the Center?”

“No, I have no intention of sending you to the Center if you don't want to. SHILD has been gathering data on you and I've been tasked with attempting to recruit you. You'll have a steady income, mission support, health care coverage, and SHIELD will pay for lodgings as well as meals for while you're on base. If you choose to join, there are S&G instructors who work exclusively for SHIELD that can help train you to use your senses appropriately while minimizing zoning. Specalists are encouraged not to register with the Center anyway, if they are a Sentinel or Guide, since we run covert ops on occasion.”

He shouldn't trust Phil. There was no reason to trust him; the man hadn't earned his trust and Clint had been burned before by blindly trusting. Even so, Clint couldn't help but believe what Phil was saying. It made sense, in a way. SHIELD had been tracking him for months now, and not all of his jobs kept him in secure areas where they wouldn't be able to get to him. The fact that they were able to keep up with him so well suggested that they had some kind of intel on how to determine what jobs that he would or wouldn't be taking. It would have been easy for them to get a step ahead, or to create a job for him then ambush him if they wanted to take him in.

The idea of working for SHIELD, though, was still unsettling. He didn't trust a shadowy government agency any more than he would trust his brother at this point. Actually, he might be more inclined to trust Barney. That said, he found himself trusting Phil.

Taking a deep breath to ground himself using Phil's scent, Clint leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees while he tried not to sigh in resignation. “Okay...I'll trust you. Not SHIELD. You. I need to have the right to decline jobs, or assignments or whatever you want to call them. I will only use my own weapons too. And if I'm on a job, you have to be the handler in charge. I wont work with anyone else unless it's an emergency. Sniper work, I choose my own perch. Also, don't go expecting me to pass any intelligence testing. I dropped out of school pretty early to join the circus, I'm doing good that I can read and do basic maths.

“I don't want to be taught to control my Sentinel abilities by a stranger, and you have to be in the room with me. Like I said, I trust you, not them.”

Phil looked mildly surprised, and then suddenly pleased. “You are my Sentinel, you will not be alone.”

~*~

They continued talking through dinner and well into the night. Phil had turned his radio back on long enough to ensure the SHIELD backup that was assigned to him that he was safe and that he was in the process of bringing Clint in out of the cold, but that it would take a while and he'd contact them again in twenty-four hours. After that they'd gotten take-out and had settled back onto the ratty old couch to talk.

The subjects ranged from a contiuaton of their conversation about SHIELD and what Clint expected and what was to be expected of Clint, to things that were more personal. Clint told Phil more about his childhood, having found out that SHIELD has some basic information but after he'd joined the circus the information they'd gotten on him was sporadic at best. Phil told Clint about being in the army and his love of Captain America collectibles. They talked about preferred weapons, and most FUBAR jobs they'd been on. Phil told Clint more about what kind of missions Clint could expect to be on, ranging from assassinations to recruitment to information gathering. They'd even discussed Clint getting his GED and doing continuing education courses.

By the time the morning rolled around, both were relaxed against opposite ends of the couch, and Clint felt comfortable enough to bring up the one topic they hadn't discussed yet.

“You're my Guide, right? Like, the Perfect Match or whatever shit it is the Center uses for their ads. It feels like that...but I'll be honest with you in that I haven't really been around many Guides in my life.”

Phil shifted slightly against the armrest he was leaning on before nodding sharply. “Yes. The theory is that there is one perfect Guide for every Sentinel – Partial or otherwise. You could technically use other Guides, they could bring you out of zones and help reduce the chance of a zone happening to start with if they are trained to look out for the signs and have a history of working with you. Working with  _your_ Guide, though...I don't have experience with it myself. They say the bond between a Sentinel and Guide who are perfect matches is the strongest bond out there. Normally, even with matches that range in the upper 80s percentiles or the lower 90s, the bond would be superficial. Think like gluing two things together. Research shows that when you hit the 100 percent mark – Perfect Matches – it's more like combining two into one.

“You'd still have your independence, as would your Guide – me – but you'd be able to tap into the Guide abilities to some degree and I would be able to tap into your Sentinel abilities. How much of each others abilities we'd share depends on how strong we are. I have tested at the lower end of Gamma, but bonding can increase the abilities. Obviously we don't have a base line for you since you've never been to a Center to be tested.”

Clint nodded along, trying to understand exactly what Phil was talking about. Reaching out, he moved to grab his coffee cup only to jostle it enough the coffee sloshed out onto his hand instead. Pulling his hand back with a pout, he wiped his hand off with a soft “aww, coffee, no” before reaching for the mug once more.

Taking a swig of the coffee, he ignored the amused look Phil was giving him. “But you are my Guide. Does that mean we have to Bond?”

This time Phil shook his head in negative, making Clint's stomach dip sharply before Phil clarified. “Yes, I am your Guide, just as  _you_ are  _my_ Sentinel. That does not mean, though, that we  _have_ to Bond. Would I like to? Yes. I've been waiting for my Sentinel for a very long time, and the idea of bonding is tempting. I think it would also give you extra security, if you want to look at it from that perspective. You said that you trust me, but you've also been given many reasons to not trust anyone. Bonding would give you a general sense of me at any given point of time. Our loyalty would be to each other first and SHIELD second and the Bond would make it so that no one could refute that.”

Taking a moment, Clint thought about it more.

He did trust Phil, the urge to trust him had only increased the longer they talked. The idea of having someone who was his first, who put him before anyone else, was honestly tempting as well. For so long he'd always been second. His older brother had put himself before Clint, the circus troupe had done the same. Since then he'd been alone. Having someone who he knew would have his back...yeah that was more than tempting.

So Clint wanted to Bond, and apparently so did Phil. The only issue now...Clint had no idea what to do. Yeah, he'd heard stories and had carefully watched Sentinels and Guides in public, but that was completely different. Bonding was suppose to be private, it wasn't done in a public setting where anyone could just walk by an interrupt. It was also something that was taught at the Center, at least general knowledge. He'd heard a few young Sentinels who'd been discussing their classes enough to know that much, but he'd been in the middle of a job and hadn't stuck around. Not to mention that it seemed weird learning about something like that from listening to a bunch of teens.

Thankfully, at least to Clint, Phil seemed to pick up on his hesitancy and either guessed at why it was or put the clues together as to why.

“Bonding can be done one of two ways. A platonic bond, where you would ground your senses to me to form a baseline and we would share mental shields, but it would leave us open to persue other relationships with other people – though Sentinels and Guides would probably be out of the question. That kind of bond can be changed to the second type, or you can just jump to the second straight off the bat. The second kind is more...intimate, and in turn is stronger and more binding. You'd ground your senses on me, but it would be completed during intercourse. There is no right or wrong way to do this. As long as all four – or five if you've gone fully online – of your senses are ground to me and I open my Guide abilities to you then whatever goes after that. Intercourse simply cements things more tightly.”

The idea of sharing his Guide made Clint sick to his stomach. He'd never considered himself to be particularly gay or even bi-sexual, but the idea of being with a male wasn't that off putting either. At least not with Phil. Having to watch the man be with someone else was a horrible thought, and Clint already could feel a feral edge starting to creep over him until one of Phil's hands brushed against the back of his hand and fingers were threaded together.

Back into the present and focused on Phil again, Clint rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension that had gathered there. “I'm for making the whole Bond thing happen. I'll tell you now, though, that if I catch anyone, Sentinel, Guide, or otherwise, touching you I'm liable to kill 'em. Don't like the idea. Makes me sick. But I also don't think I'm ready for...going all the way.”

Phil laughed softly, the smile tugging at his lips drawing Clint's eyes and holding them fast. He didn't think that a smile could look so addicting, but if the last thing that Clint saw was Phil's smile, he wasn't sure that he'd care. That smile looked like one that would steal hearts and subdue evil villains. It also made Clint feel even more protective.

Before Clint could make a fool of himself, Phil was talking again. “Why don't you go shower first? Normally it would be recommended that you use Sentinel safe soap and shampoo, but if it's something you're familiar with then that should be fine. Let me know if I need to run to the store to get different soap though, I can do that. Then I'll shower while you make a nest on the bed or wherever you want to do this. You'll need to imprint all of your senses to me, so somewhere that will have less distractions or disturbances would be beneficial.”

Nodding slightly, Clint stood, drinking in the sight of his Guide for a moment longer to help him get through separating so he could shower. They hadn't even bonded yet, but he was loathe to let the other man out of his sight. “I already use Sentinel safe products. They don't leave scents behind, makes it harder for other people to track me. Um...help yourself to whatever I guess...”

 

Clint made quick work at getting clean and then letting Phil go in after him. Trying his hardest to ignore the fact that the other man was naked in his (current) bathroom, he turned his attention towards making a nest to complete the bond in. Going based off what Phil had suggested, he dragged all of the extra blankets, the few that he actually had, into the bedroom and dumped them on the sleep rumpled bed. Feeling foolish, he moved them around to make a divot in the center for them to lay in.

The room had already smelled like him, but with the extra blankets and the pillows that he'd stolen off the couch, the smell had already increased substantially. The smell of Phil was also starting to merge with his from the couch pillows and the blanket that had been laying over the back of the couch while they'd been sitting out there earlier. It was faint, but as he took a deep inhale he found even the hint pleasant.

Feeling on edge, he moved and quickly grabbed a few weapons to place within easy reach of the bed. He wasn't expecting any issues, but he wasn't about to risk his Guide or himself.

Once he was sure that it was as good as it was going to get, Clint dropped the towel that he'd been wearing and crawled into the middle of the bed, propping himself up against the wall at the head of the bed. He wasn't sure if he was suppose to be naked or not, really, but at this point he was running on instinct. Instinct said that he needed to have as much skin to skin contact as quickly as possible once Phil got out of the shower.

Thankfully, or not, Phil was soon walking out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, closing the door behind him. Immediately Clint's gaze narrowed down onto a drop of water that was slowly trailing down Phil's chest. Unable to help the grin that spread across his face as warmth flooded his chest, Clint reached out to make grabby hands at Phil, trying to get him to come closer. Phil had a thin patch of hair on his chest that he was eager to run his fingers through and nuzzle.

Though Phil didn't look as giddy as Clint felt, he still was smiling as he climbed onto the bed to rest next to Clint, leaving his towel behind as well.

Immediately Clint turned so he was half laying over Phil, burying his nose into Phil's neck where it met his shoulder. Inhaling deeply, Clint let himself practically melt into Phil, the last of the tension that he was holding onto leaving him. The longer he left his face there, the more the scent filled him, the other scents of the room falling away from his perception. Darting his tongue out on a whim, he tried to see if he could taste the smell and wasn't too surprised that he could, a soft sigh spilling from his lips. 

Snuffling down, he moved to nuzzle into the patch of hair that had caught his attention earlier. The slightly rough hair scratched pleasantly at his skin, beneath it the skin smooth and warm.

After a moment, he raised his head to see Phil watching him with heavy lidded eyes. Unable to help himself, Clint pushed him up to meet the other man's lips with his own, pressing a quick heated kiss to them before drawing back. It wasn't enough though, the feeling of the kiss tingling of his own lips and drawing him back down for another one even as one of his hands started to smooth down Phil's arm, and across his stomach.

He never knew that someone could feel so amazing. He could tell the different textures of Phil's skin, from the smoothed puckered feeling of a scar long healed, to the rougher pucker of a fresher scar. The smooth areas of skin where Phil had little hair and no scars, the dips and groves of muscles and bones under the skin.

Pulling back slightly, Clint smiled as he moved his hand to rest on Phil's chest over his heart, feeling the faint thumping under his fingers. Moving to nuzzle against Phil's throat again, Clint almost purred when the older man lifted a hand to run down his flank and tilted his own head down to nose at the mess of hair on Clint's head.

Encouraged by the returned affection, Clint moved down Phil's body, nipping, licking, and scenting as he went while Phil's hand moved up to tangle in his blond hair. Without much more warning or thought, Clint happily licked at and then encircled the thick erection under him, happily listening to Phil's sudden intake of breath and subsequent sigh of pleasure. The taste of his arousal burst along Clint's tongue like a fine whiskey and he was more than happy to dial his hearing up to focus on every whimper and moan that Phil made as he carefully worked his member in his mouth, swirling his tongue and light pressure with every stroke of his head.

The feeling of fingers curled tightly in his hair, pulling him sharply up was the only thing that dislodged Clint from his task.

Letting Phil draw him back him, he hummed happily as Phil's other hand moved to Clint's own erection, the long callused fingers wrapping around him and working over him in a firm grip. When Phil pulled his head down towards his, Clint was more than willing to give up his lips to the desperate kiss that Phil took, opening up to the probing tongue that mapped out his mouth.

Faintly, Clint could feel his own mental shields and Phil's lowering, emotions flowing between them and warming him from the inside of his own mind even as the sluggish arousal that had been working them over started to pick up. Ripping his mouth away from Phil's to drag in deep, shuddering breaths, Clint leaned his forehead against his Guide's even as he batted away the man's hand so he could rearrange them both so they could rut freely against each others erections.

The room was filled with gasps, moans, and the scent of their mutual arousals, spurring Clint on to move faster and harder against the man below him. Eyes trained on Phil's face, he pulled back so he could watch and take in the man below him as they raced towards their completions. He was going to memorize the glassy eyed, fevered look of the man. The way his slightly thinning dark hair was mussed about his head and his cheeks were tinted a light pink. He took in the parted kiss bruised lips and the way the man drew in his lower lip between his teeth as he arched up into Clint, eyes clinching shut as warmth bloomed between them as his climax overcame him.

It was with the feeling of Phil inside his head, and the feeling of Phil's shields enclosing around him that Clint followed suit, bucking sporadically as he pumped what felt like the longest climax of his life out onto the body below him. He could feel the bond snapping into formation between them, linking them together forever even as all of his senses flared and took in Phil one last time before he pushed himself to collapse next to the Guide.

Breaths coming in shaky gasps, Clint let his head fall to his new favorite place against Phil's neck as he melted into the bed and against the man, one hand lazily stroking up and down Phil's side. Even though he had previously only been a Partial, and even though his full senses had only been online for less than a day, he already felt more settled and content than he had ever before in his life. He could still feel Phil inside of his mind, the comforting warmth and devotion that had been pouring between the two of them as the bond had settled into place. He knew there wasn't love there, not yet, but he also knew that given time it would come. Even if he never ended up with anyone else to trust, he at least had Phil, who even now was pushing contentment, loyalty, and care towards him through their new bond.

Who knew what the future would bring now. He would be joining a secret government agency, he suddenly was a fully online Sentinel, and he had a Guide who already felt stronger for him than his own family ever had. There was no telling if tomorrow he'd wake up with the sky falling around his ears, but at least if that happened he wouldn't be alone. No. Now he would never be alone. He had his very own Guide, who was already as fiercely protective of him as he was of his Guide. For the first time in what felt like forever, there was hope and he planned on holding onto that hope with both hands and never letting go.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This story has not been Beta read, as indicated in the tags. I have no claim or hold on anyone from the Marvel Universe, please give proper credit where credit is due.
> 
> I always enjoy comments and kudos!! I don't know if I will continue this and turn it into a series in the future. For now this is a one-shot.


End file.
